The Rangers: Is it finally their year?

2 years ago, the Angels were favored to win the AL West, but during the summer, the Rangers got past them and became the team to beat in the west. They were upset by the Giants.

1 year ago, it looked as if the Rangers would win it this time, for sure. But the miracle Cardinals claimed the title for their own.

Now, the Rangers rotation has been boosted and taken away from, the lineup is one of the best in baseball, but the question remains again: can they finish them off?

They were one strike away from world series glory, then one strike away again, but still couldn’t capitalize on all those great chances.

Josh Hamilton is dominating this season. With over 60 RBI, and 20 home runs, with a batting average of .332, he’s on track for his second MVP award in three years.

While most rookie attention is directed towards the Nationals’ 19 year old phenom, Bryce Harper, Yu Darvish, the 25 year old from Japan isn’t half bad right now. An ERA of 3.57 and 88 strikeouts is pretty good, (although as a Nats fan, it’s hard to see somebody as good pitcher with an ERA over 3.5.)

While the rest of the rotation lacks what Yu has, it’s made up for by the incredible team batting average – .282. That’s everyone.

Which means literally, every three batters, you have a 28% chance of seeing a hit. Compared to the second best team OPS, they’re 15 points ahead. Little numbers make a big difference in this game.

Even though all those incredible statistics say “YES!!”, a part of me says no. And here’s why.

They’ve been there before. Twice, in fact. And coming so close, is killer to your confidence. And while too much confidence can come back to bite you – when LeBron said the famous “Not 5, Not 6..” only to lose the NBA finals that year, too little will also kill you.

And after coming in to the 2011 season with so much, I’m not sure anymore. But one thing is for sure – they’ll make it interesting.

P.S – I’m going to be in print off of this site with a much bigger audience – more on that later.

P.P.S- I’m away from June 27-August 22, but I will have somebody getting my posts and putting them on here.